AMMAN, 22 March 2004 — Iraq will support reform initiatives to be presented at the Arab League’s summit in Tunis on March 29-30, Iraqi interim Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said here yesterday.
“We will deal positively with any Arab plan that is presented,” he said at a joint press conference with Jordan’s Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher. Zebari said his country and Jordan agreed that any reform plan “should come from within (the region) and not be imposed from outside”, in a reference to the US “Greater Middle East” initiative following the Iraq invasion.
Baghdad, which will be represented in Tunis by its US-appointed interim Governing Council, will seek the summit’s support for Iraq’s “independence and sovereignty”, the Iraqi foreign minister said.
The Jordanian foreign minister said Iraq and Jordan had set up a joint panel for addressing bilateral issues including the alleged infiltration of fundamentalists into Iraq.
“We have agreed to form a joint Iraqi-Jordanian delegation comprising all concerned ministries for discussing outstanding issues including the security question,” Muasher said.
Zebari urged Iraq’s neighbors to take greater control of the borders, contending that “all suicide bombings and explosions of booby-trapped cars in Iraq are being carried out by extremist groups who came from outside. We expect the very critical security problem Iraq is currently facing to continue until June 30, when sovereignty will be handed over to the Iraqi people and government,” he said. “As we are in the process of training our police force, army and intelligence, we are unable to defend our frontiers. We believe neighboring countries can help prevent infiltration operations by employing their security organs,” he added.
“We are not accusing anybody, but we demand greater efforts” to seal off the borders through the use of “efficient security services”, said Zebari.
Zebari and Muasher said their countries were working together to resolve outstanding issues, especially the estimated $500 million in Iraqi assets frozen in Jordan and the claims of Jordanian businessmen in Iraq.
The assets — frozen by Amman in the wake of Saddam Hussein’s ouster to determine their legal owners — belong to the Iraqi people, said Zebari, while Muasher said a joint commission was to be formed to settle the issue.
In Cairo, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said in remarks published yesterday it would be “absurd” for Arab leaders not to launch the process of reforming the Arab League when they hold their summit next week in Tunis.
